Tammy Duckworth Leaves U.S. Veterans Affairs Office

CHICAGO (AP) – Tammy Duckworth, the Iraq War veteran from Illinois who started a career in government after recovering from serious injuries, has resigned her position as an assistant secretary of U.S. Veterans Affairs.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports Monday that Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki says Duckworth submitted her resignation. Duckworth lost a close bid for Congress in 2006 to Illinois Republican Pete Roskam.

Running for a U.S. House seat still remains an option for her.

Shinseki says the 43-year-old Duckworth served with distinction and offered advocacy and leadership.

The Hoffman Estates veteran was a helicopter pilot in Iraq when she lost both her legs and partial use of one arm in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in 2004.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Duckworth's nomination to the Veterans Affairs post in April 2009.

She previously was chief of the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs and served with the Illinois National Guard.

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